Submit your calendar items and notices to mlopez@lasvegasoptic.com
• The San Miguel Unit of the American Red Cross helps i with any natural disaster and house fires. Persons interested in becoming a member are asked to contact Contact Connie Chavez at 425-6224. Meetings are held every third Thursday at 6 p.m. in Faith Hall.

TODAY HOY
• West Las Vegas High School Homecoming festivities, Green-and-gold day on Friday, Oct. 11 with parade line-up at noon and the parade at 1 p.m.
• Make Me a Celebrity city concert registration takes place at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11 at Playerz Video Games at 1606 Seventh St. Open to middle, high and college students in Las Vegas. For more information, call 505-603-9225.

The Associated Press
SANTA FE — New Mexico Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, who criticized her Democratic predecessor’s use of government aircraft and called a state jet the “ultimate symbol of waste and excess,” hopped on a state-owned helicopter to avoid missing an airline flight to attend political fundraisers in Texas.
The governor’s spokesman, Enrique Knell, said Martinez used the state police helicopter on Nov. 15, 2011, because it allowed her to attend a meeting of the state Board of Finance that ran late into the afternoon.

The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories are preparing to shut down by Oct. 21 and furlough of most of their 18,000 workers if Congress does not reach a deal to end the federal government’s partial shutdown, the Albuquerque Journal reported Wednesday.
The preparations result from a directive of the National Nuclear Security Administration, the Journal reported . The administration is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and it oversees work at both national labs in New Mexico.